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This spider is very closely allied to M. segmentata, but is both 

 larger and' much darker coloured. The general structure and 

 distribution of colours is very similar. The cephalo-thorax is 

 brownish-yellow, with black-brown margins, and traces, more or 

 less complete, of converging lines of the same colour on the sides 

 of the thorax, this caput is also black-brown, prolonged by a band 

 of the same huo to the hinder margin of the thorax, and with, 

 generally, two pairs of brownish-yellow spots or blotches bohind 

 the eyes. The falces are of a more or less uniform deep reddish- 

 brown colour ; the legs yellowish-brown, spotted and distinctly 

 annulated with black-brown. 



The dark central longitudinal abdominal band is less distinctly 

 defined, and the whole of the upper part and sides of the 

 abdomen are spotted and marked with black and white ; but a 

 similar pattern to that of M. segmentata is usually traceable both 

 above and underneath. In front of the spinners, however, there 

 are often, in the female, two yellowish spots in a transverse line. 



A very distinct variety is occasionally found, the abdomen of 

 which is dark blackish-brown mottled with yellowish-white, and 

 has a clearly defined, longitudinal, central, and, more or less 

 immaculate, yellow or yellowish- whito band running throughout. 

 This variety has been described by Mr. Blackwall as a distinct 

 species — Epeira celata, Bl. — but the structure of the palpi of the 

 male differs in no respect from that of those examples in which 

 the ordinary type of abdominal pattern exists. 



The palpi are very similar in their general structure to those 

 of M. segmentata, but the middle one of tho three portions of the 

 digital joint is much larger, very prominent, and strongly curved ; 

 it tapers also, but its extreme point is truncated. There are 

 other differences in the palpal structure, but the one mentioned 

 is the most obvious, and sufficient to distinguish the males of 

 the two species at a glance. 



This spider is found in the corners and windows of outhouses, 

 verandahs, and greenhouses ; also under overhanging banks and 

 rocks, and other damp dark situations, and its snare resembles that 



